Patricia Stoughton leads us through the soft landscapes of Brittany to discover a local initiative that showcases local saints. La Vallée des Saints (Traonienn ar Sant in Breton) is a bold statement about the enduring importance of regional culture and identity.

article summary —

You could be forgiven for a flash of surprise
when arriving at La Vallée des Saints in
Carnoët, Brittany, to find that the site is
actually on the top of a hill. A beautiful rounded
hill like an island among undulating waves of
green, covered in wild flowers during springtime
and dotted with over 50 striking granite sculptures.
Every figure is at least three to four metres high, its
face gazing out at the countryside below and far
into the distance beyond.

There will be more, for the plan is to bring
the number of sculptures up to one thousand by
the end of the century. Then there will be a statue
representing every known Breton saint, whether
recognised by Rome or not — a monumental
undertaking described by Philippe Abjean, at the
heart of the initiative, “like building a cathedral”: a
long-term project lasting for generations.

Tides of Celtic monks fleeing
persecution by the Angles and Saxons
in the British Isles, flowed across the
Channel, bringing Christianity to
Brittany and indelibly marking both
history and legend in the area. Most
settled in the fifth and sixth centuries, setting
up communities which adopted and unofficially
sanctified their names. Many of these can be still
traced today in the names of villages and hamlets
as well as in larger towns such as Saint-Malo,
Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Pol-de-Léon. And over the
years edifying stories of their lives
were passed from generation to
generation in time-honoured oral
tradition. “They are the core of
our Breton mythology,” explains
Abjean “and by creating the Vallée
des Saints we’re saving our popular
culture.”

Tides of Celtic monks fleeing persecution by the Angles and Saxons in the British Isles, flowed across the Channel, bringing Christianity to Brittany and indelibly marking both history and legend in the area.

Talking in the kitchen of one
of the several stone outbuildings
belonging to the farm just below
the hill, I can see that saving Breton
culture is very close to Abjean’s heart, particularly
its religious heritage. He’s no separatist but aware
that Breton religious traditions had gradually
been subsumed by the French after the Duchy of
Brittany became part of France in 1532, and particularly
after the Revolution in the late eighteenth
century, Abjean was determined to do something
about it. In 1990 he organized a symposium
and an
exhibition of church banners to mark the 1500th
anniversary of Saint Pol Aurélian in the town of
Saint-Pol-de-Léon. In 1994 he turned his attention
to the seven saints credited with the founding of
Brittany — Brieuc, Malo, Samson,
Patern, Corentin, Pol Aurélien,
and Tugdual — by reviving a
pilgrimage known in the Middle
Ages as the
Pèlerinage des Sept-Saints de Bretagne.

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